Virtual Worlds

Second Life

http://secondlife.com - Hot property. Linden Lab sells the land, you build the world. The world is divided into a grid of sims, each of which actually runs on its own server. Anybody 18 years old or over can get in for free and create an avatar. You can change everything about yourself except your name, so pick one you can live with. If you decide you want to own land, you will need to upgrade to a paid account ($6 to $10 per month). Linden dollars, the in world currency, can be exchanged for US dollars. Real money is made and lost in Second Life. Be careful.

http://secondlife.com/businesseducation/education.php - The starting point for educators in Second Life. The Second Life Educators mailing list (SLED) is a very useful source of information. They are a very chatty bunch, so be sure to choose the "daily digest" option. Otherwise, your e-mail will be flooded with messages every day. . If you want to listen, but not to speak, you can pick up the archive of the SLED list messages at https://lists.secondlife.com/pipermail/educators/. In world, join the Real Life Educators in Second Life group.

http://teen.secondlife.com - The Teen Grid, which is Second Life for 13 to 17 year olds. Adult educators can get in after a background check. Adults are restricted to private islands and may not travel to the main grid. (Don't cheat. The kids are very good at spotting adults, and cheating will get you banned for life.)

http://rampoislands.blogspot.com - A great example of a middle school on the Teen Grid.

http://www.holymeatballs.org - The Global Kids Network, a big player doing education on the Teen Grid.

A Million Other Places

Watch this space for more listings.